The news on Paul Gauguin

So what's the news on Paul Gauguin? Did you know that Paul Gauguin cruise line was purchased by Ponant cruises? Let's unpack this a little bit to see what it means.

Here's a recent article that describes the acquisition.

Paul Gauguin - who are they?

Paul Gauguin is a high end but niche Ocean cruise line. They have one ship, named Paul Gauguin which sails around Tahiti year round. The ship is purpose built, has a capacity of about 330 passengers and is an integral part of the a great South Pacific experience. We were fortunate to experience 10 days with Paul Gauguin as described in our blog. Here's a summary of our Paul Gauguin cruise a few years back.

Introducing Ponant

Ponant is a luxury brand of small ship (they call them luxurious yachts) ocean cruises. They are based in France and are rapidly expanding, especially in the US market. They currently have 10 ships all with 132 staterooms or less. By 2021, they are on target to have 14 ships. They go all over the world and, because of the small ship sizes, visit some very unique destinations. The experience on board is much more international than most cruise ships (from an American perspective) and includes many expedition style cruises.

Ponant offers destinations to Africa, Alaska, Antarctica, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, North America, Northern Europe, Oceania in the Pacific, Russia, the Adriatic, The Artic and the Mediterranean. Literally around the world.

So what's news on Paul Gauguin?

Paul Gauguin sails in what's known as French Polynesia and so a purchase by a French based luxury line makes a lot of sense. Ponant is expected to inject new capital and expand Paul Gauguin's offerings - which is exciting. While Paul Gauguin has been very successful, a single ship line does present some constraints and lack of economy of scale. It shows that Ponant continues to expand both organically as well as via acquisition which is a healthy sign for the industry. Consumers have more luxury small ship offerings than ever before.

Ponant is offering significant discounts to previous Paul Gauguin guests as a way to welcome them into its brand. These offers currently expire at the end of Oct 2019 however, so act soon. So what's the news on Paul Gauguin? discounts and an acquisition by Ponant!

Here's our blog describing top rated Tauck tours with a nice picture of Ponant ship. Tauck charters Ponant ships for many of their trips. That Tauck uses Ponant ships is testament to Ponant's quality.